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I guess a little grass is good. It gets you thinking. As I was out in my yard mowing the lawn, digging up the flower beds, planting … the Florida, the MESH, the bonding and bridging social capital … it came together for me in a moment. Shall we see if I can piece it together for you again in this post?

Coincidently, I bumped into Richard Florida while he was walking into his office at MaRs, KD Paine & Joe Thornley were leading the social media measurement meme during the week and I received word from ChangeThis.com that their editorial board has selected my idea to link social media to corporate valuation (vote here till June 19th).

If you have not quite caught it yet … the subject of this post is links. Helpful, influential, supportive links. Links that must be invested in, over time, with contribution, sharing and commitment. Or in other words, the resources that are embedded in social connections known as social capital.

Once again, I want to commend “the MESH guys” on their effort to create the premier web conference in Canada. My wondering about “the state of the nation” in terms of the Toronto scene and innovation in Canada in general is a testimony to their success.

So here goes the wondering bit: Is it impossible to create an innovation led culture and economy when our baby boomer bubble is so pronounced, we underfund startups, the venture capital market is shallow, small populations, small markets and a “branch-plant” mentality of scarcity breeds local hypercompetition?

I don’t think so, but Florida, Cushing and Gates serve a cautionary note. “Relationships can get so strong that the community becomes complacent and insulated from outside information and challenges. Strong ties can also promote the sort of conformity that undermines innovation. Weak ties, on the other hand, allow a basic level of information sharing and collaboration while permitting newcomers with different ideas to be accepted quickly into the social network. Thus, social groups with weak ties could be expected to encourage innovative thinking.”

I don’t think Toronto (or Canada) is yet taking full advantage of our diversity, but I am hopeful that we are moving in the right direction. Events like MESH08 and Third Tuesday help (on a different front) by connecting our tightly bound community through weak links to people like Marshall Sponder, Natalie Johnson (Shel says she gets it), Rohit Bhargava and David Gratton (great moderator!). Panelists – you must really feel like “the new kid in town” when everyone rushes you at the end of your session.

When a peer tries to innovate, makes a major move, attempts to reinvent an industry, risks financial and social capital and personal ego, a tightly bound social network can either help their fellow lobster out of the pot, or drag them back into the boiling cauldron. A mentality of false scarcity and local hypercompetition can breed indifference or satifice driven criticism. On the other hand, mobilizing in support of efforts to build global success stories enriches the home town crowd over the long term, digg it!?. I am not suggesting a free pass, just a healthy awareness of the pros and cons of a tight social network and enlightened self interest when it comes to the weak links that are so valuable.

Wrt MESH specifically, maybe somehow broadcasting the twitter tweme on public monitors or projecting it can open up the amazing (but exclusive) dynamics of the back channel or the video shot during the conference could be played in the common area to create some feedback loops.

And perhaps there are some ways to bring in even more value packed outsiders into the conference?